Five Star BWCAW Campsite

This week, several friends and I spent three days in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The BWCAW is regarded as one of the most magnificent wilderness areas in all of North America. It is first on my top ten areas to camp in Minnesota. For those of you who are not familiar with this wilderness area it has over 1,200 miles of canoe routes and thousands of lakeside campsites. We had what I would call a five star campsite for both nights. The site had hundreds of huge white and red pine, a rocky point for watching wildlife, and a fabulous view across the bay.

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Early Morning Fog on Pipestone Bay

The first morning we awoke to a layer of fog covering the water.

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Early Morning Canoeing

I did some paddling along the shore listening to the loon’s serenade.

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BWCAW Loon

Along with several loons, we saw over three dozen eagles. The young eaglets were taking their first flights. When I was a child it was a rare day if I saw an eagle. Now it is rare if I don’t see an eagle every day. Eagles have made an amazing comeback.

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Basswood Falls International Boundary

We canoed to Basswood Falls. For over a hundred years this was one of the main routes that the voyageurs used to haul goods and furs through the area. We found several artifacts lying in the woods near the portage trail. We had lunch next to the waterfalls listening to the water and thinking of what it was like to travel these routes in the 1700’s. In this photo the US is on the left and Canada on the right.

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